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Canadian at Emory Univeristy Important

This is a really urgent question so I appreciate all the help I can get.

I am a student with a Canadian citizenship living and studying in the United States (high school). I must make the point clear that I am not an American citizen, nor do I have a green card. I am here on a student visa so I am considered an international student.

I will be applying to Emory ED II and I was wondering if there are any private loans I can receive to pay for my college tuition for Emory University. My parents are not rich so I know they are unable to pay the full tuition of Emory which is close to $60,000; they will be pay to pay a portion of it though (maybe 1/4th of it).

I am quite aware that there are no federal funds available for international students.

I am desperate for financial aid from wherever because I know Emory is my dream school but I am afraid I won't be able to attend it because of the money.

Since the credit crisis in 2008, banks have been a lot more careful giving loans to foreigners or students with no income of their own. You'll need a credit-worthy US co-signer or a significant collateral to get that kind of money. (Does your family own a home that they could take a mortgage out on?)

Ultimately, I'm just looking for ways to pay for college without having $60,000+ in debt once I graduate. There must be a way for lower middle class international students to attend an American school without having such a huge debt. There just has to be..

Is a low-interest loan my best option right now? If it is, I will probably have to reconsider attending an American school for now.

cmidy56: The only way I know of is to have extremely high stats, but even then, there are no guarantees that you will be fully funded. You need to look at other options for colleges. Dream school or not, you can't afford it. I'm speaking from experience. Neither you, nor your parents can afford it.

My daughters, American citizens and URM, did not qualify for ANY scholarships. Too much competition. They originally got into great schools: Johns Hopkins, BU, etc. but we just couldn't afford their schools. So, both girls are at public schools and they feel good about not going into debt. One daughter did get an offer, but had to play a sport however, she's been injured. So, we knew that wouldn't work.

Bottom line: SOMEONE HAS TO PAY FOR YOUR EDUCATION but there is no available money. Less even for international students. I don't think you could get a loan for more than $5500. Consider applying to schools that would like to add a diverse Canadian to their rosters; they might offer you some funding. Don't get discouraged; cast your net out further. Don't put all your hopes on one school because you will be extremely disappointed when you can't go there.

aunt bea, thanks for your reply. Emory is my first choice school, but I have other schools in mind as safeties just in case. I'm also applying to two Canadian schools in case I have no other option. My stats are competitive, but nothing spectacular like a 2400 and a 5.0.

I guess I'll come back to the States for grad school? See you guys in four years, maybe.

cmidy56, you basically have 4 options to attend an American university debt-free as an international student:

1. If you are good enough for Harvard and the like, those universities offer very generous need-based aid to all their accepted students regardless of citizenship.

2. You can attend a liberal arts college. Many of the better liberal arts colleges have a limited amount of need-based aid for international students. It's easier to get aid there than to get into Harvard; however, these colleges are somewhat unknown and most of their majors would be considered "useless." (If you were planning to study English literature or anthropology anyway, they'll serve you well. If you were hoping for business or engineering, you might be disappointed.)

3. You can attend a lower-ranked university on an academic merit scholarship. For example, the University of Alabama at Huntsville offers a full ride to applicants with a 1490 SAT or 34 ACT, and a full-tuition scholarship to applicants with a 1360 SAT or 31 ACT.

4. If you are a competitive athlete, you might get recruited with an athletic scholarship.

Those are the only options I am aware of. Selective-but-not-wealthy universities (like Emory, Boston University, New York University, Berkeley, the University of Southern California, etc) are not going to offer aid to international students EXCEPT to recruit the tippy top students who would otherwise go to Harvard... Quite to the contrary: some of them have gone on record calling international students "cash cows." If you can't pay, they don't care to have you there.

And no, I am not familiar with OSAP. I just browsed the website and I doubt that it would help you significantly. Would you even qualify as an "Ontario resident" if you haven't been living in Canada? They have a calculator on the website that estimates the financial aid you can expect. I ran through it with Emory's cost of attendance and an annual family income of $80,000. I was told to expect a federal loan of $8,400 and some income tax credits. Nothing that would make a huge dent into a $60,000/year cost of attendance though.

That was incredibly helpful b@r!um, thank you. I will be applying to Bates regular decision and see how much financial aid I can receive from them.

I just have one more question. If I were to apply to Emory, do I need to send a financial certificate with my common application or do I wait until I am accepted by them to send the financial certification and bank statements?

Re liberal arts colleges: they have more qualified international applicants than funding available, so admission is a bit like playing the lottery. If you are seriously interested in attending a LAC, I'd apply to more than one. International financial aid recipients generally have test scores above the 75% percentile; don't be fooled into thinking about a LAC as a safety just because your test scores are above their median range.

It's also worth to apply to more than one to compare aid packages. My aid offers had family contributions ranging from $6K to $14K per year, which is a significant difference in our income bracket. A somewhat wealthier friend got financial aid packages with family contributions ranging from $20K to $40K, all from colleges that promised to meet 100% of an applicant's "demonstrated need." That just goes to show how much colleges' financial aid formulas vary.

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